


Nothing's Gonna Change

by aobox



Category: Borderlands
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Epilogue, F/M, Fainting, Partial Nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-03
Updated: 2015-07-03
Packaged: 2018-04-07 12:10:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4262826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aobox/pseuds/aobox
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Gaige came back from the war with the Warrior, the final stand with what's'his name, Handsome Jack, the "battle to end all battles" as Scooter had called it; Zed couldn't believe his eyes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing's Gonna Change

**Author's Note:**

> slight implication of a relationship between them at the end, so I tagged it properly just in case. Take it with a grain of salt, if you'd rather.

When Gaige came back from the war with the Warrior, the final stand with what's'his name, _Handsome Jack_ , the "battle to end all battles" as Scooter had called it; Zed couldn't believe his eyes.  
  
There she was, all in one piece no less, bleeding but smiling all the same. No, beaming.  
  
"I killed him." she mumbled triumphantly, over and over, out of absolute shock. Almost as if she was in a daze, the girl sounded so wistful about it.. "I, I killed Jack."  
  
She had swung open his door with a limp but moving hand, other arm tucked to her chest, and took a few shakey steps to him as the door swung shut behind her. "I did it. Zed, I," as she continued.  
  
The poor thing looked overheated already, and it was hot as hell in this damned room as it was, and just the moment Zed started to fret, started to stand up from leaning over his exam table; Gaige fell to the ground.  
  
"Oh, gosh, Gaige, ya' alright?" he worried over to her, lifting her head off the ground to rest her on his knees. Chest still heaving, too, that was a good sign, but her pulse - he had his hand to her neck - was off the friggin' charts.

Y'know, to put it technically.  
  
"I'm fine, I'm great Doc.." And a lazy grin slid onto her mouth as she said so. Zed now saw up close that she wasn't just bleeding, she was bleeding profusely.  
  
Well, hell.  
  
"C'mon, I gotta get'cha on the table." To which he did so, lifting her up from the floor like a blushing bride, carrying her there, and setting Gaige down as gently as possible. There were bullet holes dotting her chest and stomach - the elemental ones, mind you, they're much smaller and they don't leave an actual bullet - and cuts and scratches adorning the majority of her arms and legs. With a particularly bad knife slice smack dab in the middle of her torso, right above all those juicy intestines, and just shallow enough to not've done any real damage.  
  
It wasn't the worst time she'd come to him like this, he'll tell ya' that. One time her foot was twisted all the way around- I'll, I'll just get back to the story now.  
  
And so Zed got to work. Removed a big ass sniper rifle bullet from her shoulder, a small blade from the other shoulder, the like. When he noticed thick burns running up her flesh arm, lifted the sleeve a little bit and, yeah, it was pretty bad. 3rd degree at best. No, no, 2nd degree at best. Was 4th degree down to the bone? It wasn't nearly down to the bone..  
  
Goddamnit, he couldn't remember.  
  
Got to work stripping her clothes off- hey, no, I don't want'cha gettin' the wrong idea here. The burns were awful, and he had to be able to treat 'em properly. Asked Gaige too, a quick "This'alright, to uh.." to which she replied with a laugh, "Yeah, of course Zed, you've seen me naked before."  
  
How blunt she could be still amazed him.  
  
So she lay there, clad in a plain but fitting black bra and panties that matched enough to count, skin so red it looked like Pandora’s Sun had scorched her itself. Cuts, deep, across her pale skin, burns running from her shoulder to her chest, to her opposite thigh and beyond.  
  
Her neck looked sliced up too, the poor girl, and Zed almost immediately wet a cloth to drape it across her neck. Wet a towel, too, placing the cool thing right above her uh, breasts, to cover up the burn and hopefully provide some relief while he worked on her legs - and as it turned out, twisted ankle.  
  
Zed always worked like this, from her feet to her legs, to her stomach to her chest, to her shoulders to her neck. He learned to, after countless times of doing this. It paced himself, mainly because by the time he was almost done he found himself kissing every bit of her he could reach.  
  
It added to her anticipation, too, and he could tell. Inching kisses up a bloody cut on her stomach.. God, that was the closest to Heaven he was ever gonna get.  
  
And with that, he began the routine. Fixing as he went up.   
  
Little did he know, Zed was the first and only person Gaige had greeted when she got back from the "war". No one else had seen her 'cept the few people on the streets of Sanctuary, and soon enough, mumbles between them would travel. "Gaige is back? Gaige is back!"  
  
It was all so fruitless and had so little certainty that no one really believed them, though, not even really the people who did see her. But later they would, after Gaige left Zed's late that evening, bounding into Moxxi's to tell Sir Hammerlock everything that happened only after she had said hi to everyone else. She had to save him for last, had to, and would be glad that she did, for they stayed up all night in the piano room of Moxxi's talking about Gaige's most recent grand adventure.  
  
Little did Zed know, he truly had Gaige all to himself for the time being.  
  
He worked more worried this time than any other, less kisses, more knit brows. Her silence was deafening to him, he had to hear what happened, had to know.  
  
"What, what happened out there?" he asked out of pure unadulterated curiosity.  
  
And then he almost regretted asking the question. After he did so, her smile grew tenfold, and he couldn't shut her up if he tried. (Well, he could, but there was much too much work to be done at the moment.)  
  
Gaige talked and talked about the fight to get there, how devastated she was when the key was put into place, her absolute fear when the Warrior came up from the lava. How hard it was, and they kept killing Deathtrap, and then there were like TEN Handsome Jacks'..  
  
Honestly, Zed was enraptured by her. She always told stories beautifully, with so much emotion, so lively and young about it too. He hoped she never lost her ability to do that.  
  
Now he was almost done, up to her neck now, so enthralled with her he wasn't aware he was already kissing up the unburt parts of her neck, her chin, the corners of her mouth. She smiled underneath him, not minding the touches at all, in fact, enjoying them more than she should. Kissed him back a few times too, lightly, out of innocence - plus, he still had work to do, and you don't want to see Zed when you bother with his work.  
  
A cut on her cheek he paid special attention to. Dragged his lips over it, asked if it hurt. She nodded and he fell in love. Kissed her cheek, lightly this time, cleaning the dried blood from around it and applying an ointment before pasting a bandaid over it. Leaned up to admire his work - to admire her - and her smirk sent shivers down his spine. He was too old for this, he'd later say.  
  
And that was that, the work was done. And they made love.  
  
There, on that nasty, bloodstained exam table, they found each other.  
  
And as it turns out, there's even more vaults to go hunting for.  
  
And it comforted them both that nothing'll really change.

 


End file.
